2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Explained

The 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-first season of premier German touring car championship and also eighteenth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. The season is scheduled to run from 6 May until 15 October over 18 races. René Rast won his first DTM championship after a total of nine events.^[1]

Supplier changes

• German wheel rim company ATS became official standard control wheel rim supplier from 2017 season onwards as it was announced on 15 March 2016.^[2]
• Hankook Tire extend their DTM tyre supplier role until 2019 as the South Korean tyre company announced on 6 May 2016.^[3]

Rule changes

Sporting rules

• On 17 September 2016, DTM announced that the field may be reduced from 24 to 18 competitors.^{[4] [5]}
• The DTM race formats will be changed to 55 minutes respectively for race 1 and race 2 as it was announced on 30 March 2017.^[6]
• The team-to-driver radio has been banned for 2017 season onwards as it was announced on 1 May 2017.^[7]
• The simultaneously 4 tyre change in the pit stop has been replaced by the separated 4 tyre change in the pit stop to make longer pit duration up to 10 seconds (similar to 24 Hours of Le Mans).^[8]
• Points will be awarded for qualification positions with the top three earning points.^[9]

Technical rules

• After using single-element rear wings for five seasons, the rear wing of all DTM cars has been changed back from a single-element plane wing to a dual-element plane wing. The double-element rear wing was last featured in the DTM in the 2011 season.^[10]
• All DTM engines from 2017 season will be increased to 500 bhp as well as the increase of intake air restrictors diameter to 29 mm.
• All DTM entrants to utilize all-new Hankook tyre compounds from 2017 season to produce aggressive grip.^[11]

Mid-season changes

• The allocation of Balance of Performance DTM car weights were revised again for fine tuning.^[12]
• After several criticisms and protests from DTM teams, the Balance of Performance DTM car weights were officially abolished just before Austrian race.^[13]

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Hankook.

	Car	Team		Drivers	Rounds
Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes Me	2	Gary Paffett^[14]	All
			6	Robert Wickens	All
		Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy	3	Paul di Resta	All
			63	Maro Engel	All
		Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	22	Lucas Auer	All
			48	Edoardo Mortara^[15]	All
Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	5	Mattias Ekström^[16]	All
			51	Nico Müller	All
		Team Rosberg	33	René Rast	All
			53	Jamie Green	All
		Team Phoenix	77	Loïc Duval	All
			99	Mike Rockenfeller	All
BMW	BMW M4 DTM	BMW Team RBM^[17]	7	Bruno Spengler	All
			31	Tom Blomqvist	All
			36	Maxime Martin	All
		BMW Team RMG	11	Marco Wittmann	All
			15	Augusto Farfus	All
			16	Timo Glock	All

Team changes

• Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline announced that they were scaling down from four cars to a two-car team, moving in line with Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Audi Sport Team Rosberg.^[18]
• BMW Team RBM and BMW Team RMG respectively increased their number of entries from two to three cars each to fill up the two empty spots left by Team Schnitzer and Team MTEK.^[19]

Leaving DTM

• Both Mercedes-Benz DTM teams ART Grand Prix and Mücke Motorsport ceased their DTM involvement due to the reduction in the DTM field to 18 cars (6 per manufacturer) as well as ART Grand Prix focusing on junior single-seater formulas.^[20]
• Both BMW DTM teams Team Schnitzer and Team MTEK also ceased their DTM involvement for similar reasons.^[19]

Driver changes

Entering DTM

• René Rast, who replaced Mattias Ekström in the final round of DTM 2016, got his full seat with Audi.
• 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and WEC champion driver Loïc Duval made his DTM debut with Audi.^[16]
• 2015 FIA GT World Cup winner and Venturi Formula E driver Maro Engel returned to DTM with Mercedes after leaving the series in 2011.

Changing teams

• The 2016 DTM championship runner-up Edoardo Mortara left Audi to join Mercedes.^[15]

Leaving DTM

• Former champions Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider announced that they would both retire from DTM championship after 16 years.^{[21] [22]}
• BMW driver António Félix da Costa announced that he would leave DTM at the end of the 2016 season to focus on Formula E.^[23]
• Audi drivers Miguel Molina (between 2010 and 2016) and Adrien Tambay (between 2012 and 2016), both left the series.^[16]
• Daniel Juncadella, Christian Vietoris and Maximilian Götz who all drove full-time in 2016, and Felix Rosenqvist, who was a midseason replacement, were all left off the Mercedes squad in 2017.^[24]

Calendar

The nine event calendar was announced on 16 December 2016. All races from 2016 will return in 2017.^[1]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning manufacturer
1	R1	Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg	6 May	Lucas Auer	Mattias Ekström	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	Mercedes-Benz
	R2		7 May	Timo Glock	Jamie Green	Jamie Green	Team Rosberg	Audi
2	R1	Lausitzring, Brandenburg	20 May	Lucas Auer	René Rast	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	Mercedes-Benz
	R2		21 May	Robert Wickens	René Rast	Jamie Green	Team Rosberg	Audi
3	R1	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	17 June	René Rast		Paul di Resta		Mercedes-Benz
	R2		18 June	René Rast	Mattias Ekström	René Rast	Team Rosberg	Audi
4	R1	Norisring, Nuremberg	1 July	Maxime Martin	Tom Blomqvist		BMW Team RBM	BMW
	R2		2 July	Tom Blomqvist		Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	BMW
5	R1	Moscow Raceway, Volokolamsk	22 July	René Rast	Robert Wickens	René Rast	Team Rosberg	Audi
	R2		23 July		Jamie Green	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy	Mercedes-Benz
6	R1	Circuit Park Zandvoort, North Holland	19 August	Timo Glock	René Rast	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	BMW
	R2		20 August	Augusto Farfus	Loïc Duval		Team Phoenix	Audi
7	R1	Nürburgring, Rhineland-Palatinate	9 September	Lucas Auer	Nico Müller	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT	Mercedes-Benz
	R2		10 September		René Rast	Robert Wickens		Mercedes-Benz
8	R1	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg		Jamie Green	Jamie Green	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi
	R2			Jamie Green	Jamie Green	René Rast	Team Rosberg	Audi
9	R1	Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg	14 October	Timo Glock	Mike Rockenfeller	Jamie Green	Team Rosberg	Audi
	R2		15 October	Tom Blomqvist	Jamie Green	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW

Championship standings

Scoring systemPoints were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:

Race Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Additionally, starting 2017, the top three placed drivers in qualifying will also receive points.

Qualifying Position	1st	2nd	3rd
Points	3	2	1

Drivers' championship

Driver HOC LAU HUN NOR MSC ZAN NÜR RBR HOC Points 1 René Rast 6 Ret^2 3 7 6^1 1^1 12^2 Ret 1^2 4^3 9 Ret 5 12 13 1^2 6 2^2 179 2 Mattias Ekström 5 11 8 2 5^3 2^3 3 4 8 2^2 17† 3 15 6 1^3 5 11 8 176 3 Jamie Green 18 1^3 10 1^3 DSQ^2 5 7 8 9 5 5 9 6 7 2^1 14^1 1^3 5 173 4 Mike Rockenfeller 3 7 5 5 4 10 13 Ret 2^3 12 4 1 14 17 7 2 2 3 167 5 Marco Wittmann 10 3 13 9 8 Ret^2 4 5 3^1 6 2^3 DSQ^2 9^2 3^1 5 6^3 13 1^3 160 6 Lucas Auer 1^1 4 1^1 10 12 Ret Ret 2 6 8 15 14 1^1 13 8 Ret 8 10 136 7 Timo Glock 2 8^1 11 15 2 7 5 10 5 13 1^1 7 12 8 10 7 3^1 12 133 8 Maxime Martin 11 Ret 4^3 8 Ret 3 2^1 1 16 Ret 3 6^3 17 11 6 11 4^2 6 132 9 Robert Wickens 15 Ret 2^2 3^1 Ret 8 Ret 11^2 4 9 11 15† 3^3 1^3 4 10 7 17† 119 10 Gary Paffett 7^2 2 6 4 7 9 10 Ret 7 16 8 5 10 14 17 4 9 4 102 11 Paul di Resta 8 6 16 13 1 6 11 6 14 DSQ 7 Ret 2 2^2 11 9 14 16 99 12 Nico Müller 9 5 18 6 10 4 9 13^3 15 15 10 4 11 Ret 3^2 3 12 11 81 13 Bruno Spengler 12 9 14 16 3 14 1^3 12 12 3^1 14 10 13 4 12 16 10 14 75 14 Edoardo Mortara 4^3 13 7 11 9 11 8 3 13 10 12 12 7 16 9 17† 5 9 61 15 Maro Engel 17 10 9 12 13 15 14 14 10 1 16 11 4 5 15 15 16 13 51 16 Augusto Farfus 13 Ret 12 14 11 12 Ret 7 17 11 6^2 8^1 8 9 Ret 12 17 7 35 17 Tom Blomqvist 16 12 17 17^2 15† 13 6 9^1 Ret 7 Ret 13 16 10 16 13 15 Ret^1 25 18 Loïc Duval 14 Ret 15 18 14 16 15 15 11 14 13 2 18 15 14 8 18 15 22 Driver HOC LAU HUN NOR MSC ZAN NÜR RBR HOC Points

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap 1 – 3 Points for Pole 2 – 2 Points for P2 3 – 1 Point for P3

• † — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 75% of the winner's race distance.

Manufacturers' championship

	Driver	HOC		LAU		HUN		NOR		MSC		ZAN		NÜR		RBR		HOC		Points
1	Audi	35	44	30	68	37	70	25	17	52	43	25	72	18	14	70	77	52	49	798
2	Mercedes-Benz	53	39	64	31	33	14	5	43	27	32	10	10	81	56	18	15	22	15	568
3	BMW	19	24	13	8	37	23	77	47	28	32	72	25	8	37	19	14	33	43	560
	Driver	HOC		LAU		HUN		NOR		MSC		ZAN		NÜR		RBR		HOC		Points

Teams' championship

	Team	Points
1	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	352
2	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	257
3	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me	221
4	BMW Team RBM (#7, #36)	207
5	BWT Mercedes-AMG Motorsport	197
6	BMW Team RMG (#11, #15)	195
7	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	189
8	BMW Team RMR (#16, #31)	158
9	SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport	150

Notes and References

1. News: DTM calendar for 2017 announced. TouringCarTimes.com. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 16 December 2016. 17 December 2016.
2. Web site: ATS From 2017 Official And Excluisve Wheel Supplier Of DTM. DTM.com. DTM.com. March 15, 2016. March 15, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20180227213958/https://www.dtm.com/en/news/ats-2017-official-and-exclusive-wheel-supplier-dtm-2016-03-15.html. February 27, 2018. dead.
3. Web site: DTM extends Hankook deal til 2019. Tirebusiness.com. 17 October 2017.
4. Web site: 18 Autos 2017? Das ist der aktuelle Stand in der DTM. Motorsport-magazin.com. 17 October 2017.
5. Web site: Khorounzhiy. Valentin. DTM teams confirm six-car line-ups a possibility for 2017. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. August 22, 2016. August 22, 2016.
6. Web site: Adam. Mitchell. DTM changes race formats for 2017. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. March 30, 2017. March 30, 2017. March 31, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170331025656/https://www.motorsport.com/dtm/news/dtm-changes-race-formats-for-2017-887925/. dead.
7. Web site: Adam. Mitchell. DTM bans team-to-driver radio for 2017 races. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. May 1, 2017. May 1, 2017. July 6, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170706041801/https://www.motorsport.com/dtm/news/dtm-bans-team-to-driver-radio-for-2017-races-900756/. dead.
8. Web site: Six reasons why the 2017 DTM season is one to watch. touringcartimes.com. touringcartimes.com. May 3, 2017. May 3, 2017.
9. Web site: Sporting Regulations. DTM.com. DTM. 13 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170829005306/https://www.dtm.com/en/regulations/sporting-regulations. 29 August 2017. dead.
10. Web site: BMW Motorsport. Facebook.com. 17 October 2017.
11. Web site: New generation of Hankook tyres for the 2017 DTM season. DTM.com. DTM.com. 9 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170324090920/http://www.dtm.com/en/news/new-generation-hankook-tyres-2017-dtm-season-2017-03-10.html. 24 March 2017. dead.
12. Web site: Fine-tuning: Allocation of Performance Weight Revised. DTM.com. DTM.com. 15 June 2017.
13. Web site: Hewitt. Chloe. DTM Scraps Performance Weights With Immediate Effect. thecheckeredflag.co.uk. thecheckeredflag.co.uk. 15 September 2017.
14. News: Maro Engel back with Mercedes in major line-up reshuffle. TouringCarTimes.com. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 26 January 2017. 26 January 2017.
15. News: Mortara leaves Audi for Mercedes for 2017. Motorsport.com. 2016-10-29. 2016-10-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20161029174157/http://www.motorsport.com/dtm/news/mortara-leaves-audi-for-mercedes-for-2017-844088/. dead.
16. News: Loic Duval and Rene Rast in finalised line-up for Audi in 2017. TouringCarTimes.com. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 12 December 2016. 12 December 2016.
17. News: BMW Motorsport to retain its six DTM drivers for 2017. TouringCarTimes.com. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 9 December 2016. 10 December 2016.
18. Web site: Khorounzhiy. Valentin. Audi reveals DTM team line-up for 2017 season. autosport.com. autosport.com. 9 February 2017. 9 February 2017.
19. Web site: Klein. Jamie. BMW announces team structure for 2017 DTM season. motorsport.com. motorsport.com. 6 December 2016.
20. Web site: Khorounzhiy. Valentin. Mercedes confirms reduction to six cars for 2017. motorsport.com. motorsport.com. 27 October 2016. 27 October 2016.
21. Web site: Martin Tomczyk to leave DTM at the end of the season - TouringCarTimes. 9 September 2016. Touringcartimes.com. 17 October 2017.
22. Web site: Two-time champion Scheider to retire from DTM. Motorsport.com. 17 October 2017. 18 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161018230140/http://www.motorsport.com/dtm/news/two-time-champion-scheider-to-retire-from-dtm-839129/. dead.
23. Web site: Antonio Felix da Costa to leave DTM to focus on Formula E. Autosport.com. 17 October 2017.
24. Web site: Mercedes DTM team drops four drivers in 2017 shake-up. Mitchell. Adam. Autosport.com. 17 October 2017.